Monday, February 24, 2014

Ode to my Love~Hate relationship with MONEY

As a single mom raising three children since 1994, I have had many different ways to define this relationship with MONEY. Where it comes from, where it goes, why I worry about it, and when it will be here are but a few of the historic areas of concern....

Monopoly Wall 2002

Graduate school was no exception.

Working three part-time jobs, attending college full-time, and attempting to still be a parent as I completed the BFA program at Alfred University with no car; kept the money issue Front and Center most of the time. Suffice it to so that making the commitment to continue into graduate school so that I could get my permanent teaching certification, required a whole new definition of my relationship with money.

As the search for a permanent teaching job began, my "baby" brother began to suffer the epileptic affects of a Traumatic Brain Injury. He and his family moved home from Arizona and in with us while we figured out how to navigate the VA system.

It was a house full of lots of love and never enough of the "M" word. To address my feelings on this issue, I found some paint on the "oops!" shelf at K-Mart's home improvement section. I painted my bedroom wall red (because we were always in the red) and re-purposed this monopoly game to show the kids (Mine were ages 11, 9, and 8. My brother's girls were 4 and 2) that value and joy are not always defined by this paper item. Granted had any of this been REAL money it NEVER would have ended up on the wall.

These concepts have stayed with me since then. Naturally, they are beginning to influence how I run my studio business. I have posted about these issues most-recently here:

B~Arter~and~Trade June 2013Ideas to Paint Happy in January 2014Keeping Art Affordable in February 2014Working through the Root:30 Day Journal Project and The Right Brain Business plan is helping me to clarify AND apply these concepts in practical ways. Finally there is a resounding follow- through and direction emerging from the cement of this foundation.